Although the
book discusses how kids’ bodies change, Growing Up takes a more holistic
(and humorous) approach to the adolescent years, tackling everything from brain
chemistry to cliques and from being a transgender teen to forming healthy
sexual relationships.

Kira Vermond

“I’m delighted
the book has been nominated as part of the Forest of Reading 2015 program –
it’s one of the biggies for kids’ books in Canada,” Kira says. “I’m
particularly happy that more kids will get a chance to read it. I know that if
I’d had this book as a child, it would have been a life changer.”Kira is the
author of three non-fiction books for children, one for adults and has another
children’s book in the works. When Growing Up was published in 2013, it
received high praise for being a “straight-talking guide to the roller coaster
of puberty,” according to Quill & Quire’s starred review. This is Kira's second nomination for the award.

Meanwhile, Kira
recently released her third children’s nonfiction book, Why We Live Where
We Live (Owlkids). Kirkus gave it a good review, calling it “unusual” and
says it offers a “surprising amount of information”— which were the qualities Kira
was shooting for.

The book takes readers,
age 8-11, on a sweeping journey through time and space to examine not only the
places we call home, but why we want to build a community there in the first
place – think Las Vegas, built in the middle of the desert, or Pompei, built at
the base of an active volcano.

Kira explores how
access to food and water, language, family ties, transportation and even
climate change influence our decisions. Humans, smart enough to adapt to the
environment and also adapt the environment to their needs, can live nearly
anywhere, even in space.

Kira’s first nonfiction book for kids (published in 2012 and also nominated for a Red Maple Award) was The
Secret Life of Money: A kids’ guide to cash. At the time, my son
was 10 and it was his favourite book of the year, and my daughter who was 14 at
the time loved it, too. Note: I regularly lead weekly Writing Kid Lit classes and Writing for Children and for Young Adults workshops on Saturday, and often have Kira as a guest speaker. To see details of upcoming Children's Lit classes and workshops, see here(and scroll down). ~ Brian

Growing up,
Inside and Out is available from Owlkids here, Why We Live Where We Live is available here, and the Secret Life
of Moneyhere.For information on submitting to Owlkids and Maple Tree press, see here.

St. Alban's Church, 537 Main Street, Georgetown, Ontario (In
the village of Glen Williams. Map here.)

Note:See
details of all six weekly creative writing courses offered this winter here.

The Next Step in Creative Writing
will challenge you to take a step up in your writing. The
format will be similar to the "Intensive" courses, but with less
reading between classes each week, leaving you with more writing time. Over the ten weeks of classes, you’ll be asked to bring in four pieces of your
writing for detailed feedback. All your pieces may be from the same work, such
as a novel in progress, or they may be stand alone pieces. You bring whatever
you want to work on.

Besides critiquing pieces, the instructor will give short lectures at the start
of class, addressing the needs of the group, and in addition to learning how to
critique your own work and receiving constructive suggestions about your
writing, you’ll discover that the greatest benefits come from seeing how your
classmates approach and critique a piece of writing and how they write and
re-write. This is a challenging course, but extremely rewarding.

Instructor Brian Henryhas
been a book editor and creative writing teacher for more than 25 years. He
teaches at Ryerson University and has led writing workshops everywhere from
Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Charlottetown. But his proudest boast is
that he's helped many of his students get published.

Check out two reviews of the Next Step coursehere.Fee:176.11
+ 13% hst = 199.Payment
in advance by mail or Interac.

Note: Enrollment is strictly limited,
and these courses fill up, so enroll early to avoid disappointment.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

3 Seas is
a small (just three agents) full-service literary agency. The agency represents
more than 50 authors especially romance authors, but also women’s fiction, science
fiction/fantasy, thrillers, young adult and middle grade fiction as well as
select nonfiction titles. Here’s what they have to say about themselves:

“In
the fourteen years since the agency doors were opened, our agents have
successfully sold into all the major publishing houses.Our clients consistently
appear on the New York Times, USA Today and Publishers Weekly Best Sellers
lists. They have been nominated, and won, many prestigious industry awards,
including, the RITA, the Golden Heart, the Holt Medallion, the RT Reviewer’s
Choice, the ALA Best Book for Young Adults, the School Library Journal Best
Book, and the Bookseller’s Best.”

Linda Scalissi is the newest member of the team and like all
new agents, she needs authors! For Linda, not only has reading been a lifetime
passion, but she has a strong background in professional proofreading, editing
and sales. She’s looking forward to receiving submissions and building
strong, long-term relationships with her clients.

Linda
is interested in representing authors of women’s fiction, thrillers, young
adult, mysteries and romance.

She’s thrilled to be a
part of the publishing industry as it will allow her the opportunity to read to
her heart’s content - guilt free! She resides with her husband, two dogs and
four rescue goldfish.

The subject line must
start with the word QUERY and should include the title of your manuscript. You
might try: QUERY to Linda Scalissi re TITLE. Paste the first chapter and a
synopsis into your query. Full submission guidelines
here.

Brian Henry will lead "From the Horse’s Mouth: Strategies for
Getting Published" at Ryerson
University in Toronto on Saturday, Nov 29, with literary agent Rachel Letofsky of the Cooke Agency, senior
editor Anne Shone of Scholastic Books, and Marketing and Publicity Manager
Stephen Myers of Penguin Books (see here).

Brian will lead a "How to Get Published" workshop in Niagara on the Lake on Sunday,
March 1, with literary agent Olga Filina (see here).

And Brian has a “Writing for Children & for Young
Adults" workshop on Saturday, Nov 8, in
Guelph (seehere).

Other upcoming workshops,
include: "How to Write Great Dialogue," Saturday, Nov 1, in Ottawa (seehere), and “How
to Write a Bestseller" with New
York Times #1 bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, Saturday, Nov 22, in
Burlington (see here)
and Saturday, Dec 6, in London (see here).

But the best way to get your manuscript ready for publication is with a weekly
course. Come January, Brian will be offering classes for beginners through
experienced writers. See details for all six courses here.

For details of“Welcome
to Creative Writing” on Tuesday afternoons in Burlington see here, for “Writing
Your Life & Other Personal Stories”on
Tuesday mornings in Oakville see here,
for “The Next Step in Creative Writing” on Wednesday evenings in Burlington, here,
on Thursday afternoons in Mississaugahere,
and on Thursday evenings in Georgetown, here,
and for “Intensive Creative Writing” on Wednesday afternoons in Burlingtonhere,

Monday, October 27, 2014

I’m thrilled to be in the Globe and Mail. My
first publication. Read “Hot Flashes in the Marriage Bed” here.

Shauna
Clinning

For information on submitting a Facts & Arguments
essay to the Globe & Mail, seehere.

Hello, Brian!

My latest
short “Chocolate milk, nachos and guacamole”is now on Near to the Knuckle. It
was posted Thursday but the editor forgot to let me know! Grr. Anyway, it’s
up! You can read it here.
If you can, leave a comment!

I got to
read one of my short stories (Fringe Category) at the Eden Mills Writers
Festival.

Anastasia McEwan

Writer
to Writer

Hi, Brian.

I have setup a writing
page on Facebook for Middle Grade Fantasy Novelists. I am seeking members to
join. The group description is as follows:

Have you completed writing at
least one middle grade fantasy novel? Are your role models Rick Riordan, JK
Rowling, and Joseph Delaney? This working group is for you! This is a genre
targeted group that will support members:

Leveraging our combined
expertise will improve our novels, skills, and techniques. Long-term benefits
will include being part of a peer group that will uniquely participate in your
professional (or soon-to-be professional life) and having an instantly
available beta reading group for your backlog, current, or future novel, query
or synopsis.

Using technological tools such as email, conference calls, etc. as
well as meeting face to face, and we hope to bridge any geographical distance
that may inhibit a writer from joining.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

For twelve
years now, FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting has sponsored the Dalton Camp Award, an essay competition honouring the memory of a great
Canadian journalist and political actor who, among his many achievements, was
one of FRIENDS' founders in 1985.
Last year we increased this Award to$10,000in order to encourage more Canadians
tothink
and write about the link between media and democracy.

Please
take a moment to consider persons you know who might be interested in this
Award – and pass this opportunity along to them.

The deadline this year is November 15, 2014.

The
official rules, past winning essays, a video biography on Dalton Camp, and
other details about the Award are available from the Dalton Camp Award website here.

Best
regards, and thanks for your help in communicating this opportunity within your
circle of friends!

Ian
Morrison
Spokesperson
FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting

The Ragis an electronic magazine that targets the
e-readers markets, exclusively (i.e Kindle/Nook/ePub). The Rag is looking for
short fiction (1,500 – 10,000 words) and flash fiction (under 1,500 words) for
its seventh issue. The Ragpays a minimum of 5 cents per word. But
it costs a $3 U.S. service fee to submit or $5 including an issue of The Rag.

The Rag is also seeking entries for its semi-annual short fiction contest. Fee:
$15 U.S. Prize: $500.

“As always, we're looking for contemporary material with a grittier
edge. Rather than the typical, drab literature all too common to the world of
lit mags, we want your literary guts and steel--engaging material that grabs
hold and doesn't let go.”

Very Important Things(Toronto, Canada) is a new lifestyle blog
with a feminist spin. Looking for writers to “share, support, and celebrate the
positive change women of all ages around us are making with their various
weapons of choice” on the topics of art, fashion, feminism, food, humour, love,
and political activism. Publishes personal anecdotes, short stories and essays.

Deadline: Ongoing.

Hi, Brian.

It would be great if you
could add PRISM international's contest listing to your site. Details are as
follows:

PRISM has
a total of three contests: the Creative
Non-Fiction, Short
Fiction, and Poetry contests
are open to all. In addition, the Earle
Birney Prize for Poetry is presented to one outstanding
poet published in the magazine.

All contests: Each
entry includes a one-year subscription or subscription extension forPRISM international, beginning
with the contest issue (Spring 2015 for Non-Fiction and Summer 2015 for
Fiction/Poetry).

All 1st prize winners will be
published in PRISM, and
runners-up will be published at the discretion of the editors. All other
entries will be considered for publication as regular submissions (for the
possibility of publication in other issues of PRISM).

Brian Henry has been a book editor, writer, and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches creative writing at Ryerson University. He also leads weekly creative writing courses in Burlington, Mississauga, Oakville and Georgetown and conducts Saturday workshops throughout Ontario. His proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get published.